EARLY AMERICAN MASONRY MATERIALS

N WALLS, FLOORS AND CEILINGS

NOTES ON PROTOTYPES, SOURCES, PREPARATION AND MANNER OF USE HARLEI j. MCKEE, PAIA

Copyright 1971 Harley J. McKee 701 Crawford Avenue Syracuse, New York 13224 EARLY AMERICAN MASONRY MATERIALS IN WALLS, FLOORS AND CEILINGS -- notes on prototype; sources, preparation and manner of use.

INTRODUCTION: ployed for structures such as dams and ele- vated roads, This deals in an tentative way with some aspects of the technology of American archi- Basic prcparat i on; Usually earth from (or tecture before c. i860. It refers to prac- near) the building site was taken. If neces- tices from early times in various parts of sary to secure the proper composition, ano- the world, which may or may not have been ther kind was admixed. Pebbles were picked familiar to builders in the area now com- out, and sometimes the (dry) earth was prising the United States, in order to ac- screened to remove pieces of other foreign quaint the reader with matters helpful to an material. Clay by itself will shrink and understanding of the subject. Properties of crack in drying; to prevent this sand and/or each material, the manner in which it was chopped straw (chaff, grass, Spanish moss) obtained, processed and used, workmen and were added. The mixture, with water added , their equipment, characteristic details, and was well worked into a uniform plastic ma s architectural effects, are considered to the by treading (men or animals), sometimes extent possible in a brief essay. This is being turned over with a shovel or hoe to based partly on personal observation and aid in the process. For rammed (pise') walls largely on published material; major sources relatively dry soil with organic (loamy) are given and the general nature of others content was preferred. is indicated. Anyone wishing to pursue this kind of documentary search must be prepared P_i_s_e__pr rammed ear th wall s ; Excavations .at to scan many pages to extract small bits of sTyaik~TPersla] and Hasunna (Mesopotamia) information, but only in this way will an show that such walls were built before ^000 adequate treatment of the subject eventually D. C. They have also been used in more re- be compiled. cent times. Experimental walls of the 20th- century, rammed into board forms by hand EARTH: (with a hard wood plunger, sometimes shod • with iron) or by pneumatic hammer, have. Soil or earth Is a material derived from the proved to be strohg. They are durable if breakup, into small particles, of rocks in covered with a moisture resistant coating the earth's crust, by erosion and, sometimes, and topped with a goodv coping or cornice. by chemical action; this may have occurred The expense of labor makes rammed earth in repeated cycles. Generally it consists walls impractical in industrialized coun- of clay, sand, or a mixture of the two, with tries, where they have rarely been employ- or without other mineral substances and or- ed for several centuries. ganic matter. Mounds of earth have been used for monuments and to support monuments C.lay_ JLum;p or irregular adobe walls were or temples; to this day earth fill is em- made by shaping the prepared earth in the hands and setting these lumps to form a The size of sundried bricks varied; the fol- wall. The Pueblo Indians in New Mexico lowing dimensions of ancient Egyptian^ units used quite irregular lumps (later they re- may give some notion of the range: 9" x 4-£» sorted to regular blocks). J. C. Loudon1 x 3"; 12" x 6» x 3"; 15" x 3" x 7"; 16" x"3» described the cob walls of Devonshire, x 6" (weighing from 7 Ibs. to 46 Ibs. , ap- England, in which the cobs (lumps) were proximately) . The last two sizes are not handled with a pitchfork and trodden into very different from that of adobe units in" place in the wall. Courses about four feet New Mexico. high were allowed to settle and dry for some time, then their surfaces were pared Mud brick were generally laid up with mud smooth, another course laid, etc. Cob mortar—the same material in a somewhat wet- walls were set up on stone or brick foun- ter state than when moulding the bricks. In dations to prevent deterioration from dry climates walls needed occasional re- ground moisture, covered with a coat of pairs to parapets and to their mud-plaster clay "plaster," and capped by a good roof coating. Where walls were built without a or coping; such walls were said to last for stone foundation extending well above grade, one or more centuries. the outer portion tended to disintegrate just above grade line, and unless periodic Mud brick (also called sundried brick and repairs were made there the walls fell over adobe) walls: Units were outward; this is typical of adobe buildings made by placing the in New Mexico. In humid climates, where prepared earth in this material was less commonly employed, a wooden, forms. As lime-sand stucco covering was given to the Seton Lloyd-describes exterior and roofs were made to overhang the process "The widely. Stone foundations were usual. brickmaker works on a prepared piece of ground, with the mix- Loudon'n Kncvclopodia oT Cottage, Villa ture stacked on a mat beside himT The Architecture. (London: 1646), § 838 ff. For a descrip- mould ... is filled,, and the surplus mud tion of clay lunps_ soc § 2443 ff. (Loudon us-.-i: this is smoothed off with the hand. The mould tern to designate blocks moulded, into r.u.'l brick.", as is then removed by handles projecting on I use the expression.) either side, and the bricks are left to In Singer, Holmyard and Hall, A History of Tocr.mlo- dry, for a period which varies according to £7 (London: 1954), Volume I, Chapter 17. the heat of* the sun. They are then turned over or tilted together for a further peri- Vitruvius, The Ten Bookn on .''.rchitoctvro, translated od." Vitruvius wrote that "Bricks should be by !•'. II. Korgan (iJovor reprint, Now York: 1Q60), in made in Spring or Autumn, so that they may Book II, Chap. Ill, 2. 4 . dry uniformly.... Bricks will be most servi- A (jood account of qncient Egyptian brickwork is £i- ceable if made two years before using; fot ven in S. Clarke and R. Engclbach, Ancient 2-ryptian they cannot dry thoroughly in less time,11-' Masonry (London: 1930). In ancient Mesopotamia mud-brick walls var- common in ancient china; lighter wooden ied from one to many feet in thickness. An framing served to reinforce earth walls in early temple at Tepe Gawra (before c. 3000) Crete and other pre-Hellenic regions. Daub had walls only one foot thick but they were and Wattle, in which reeds or twigs are reinforced by closely spaced buttresses both crudely woven into upright frames, then inside and outside. Later temples generally "plastered" with mud on both sides to form show 3! to 12s or even more. A house at Ur a wall, was a construction in northern Eur- (c. 2000 B. C.}, two stories high, had walls ope for ordinary dwellings and lesser struc- 9 1 to 3« thick1. tures at least as late as the Middle Ages. Fortification walls of earth with spaced During the Spanish Colonial period in New layers of logs (and sometimes stones) were Mexico, adobe walls for a one-story house built by the ancient Greeks and Romans in were customarily lt-6" to 2*-0" thick; In- addition to those of stone. dian walls had generally been thinner, often dangerously so . Church walls were up to ?' The Romans also used clay and small stones, in thickness. Although they were never made mixed, as a bulky infilling between more higher than 35', a safe limit for a good ad- carefully laid stone facings; this may have obe wall is about SO1-', In the mission been the prototype of their concrete. buildings of California few walls of adobe were less>,. than 3' and many were 5{ and 6! in Henri Frankfort, The Art and A_rchit_ci_-:_turc _of the An- thickness . Downing considered 12" a suffi- cient Orient (Baltimore, Mu.: il3>/r/). cient thickness for exterior x\alls of cot- 2 for partitions up to 12' long5 Bainbridge Bunting and. John P. f!or,rcn, in I-'oy/ Ms/.ico ta: Architecture, Vol. 8, :;os. 9 and 10 (oopt.-Get.1966). Door and window openings in mud-brick walls George Kubler, The Religious Architectv.ro. of _Ifcw were commonly spanned by timber lintels or . !•: o x i c o..... (C o 1 o ra d o Spring: T'-'iO;, citir.,; ten to. r-ide mud-brick arches and corbels. In, some cases by Eyre in 1955- Sj.Tn.lar toots shov,-ed tho rate of stone lintels were used. Newcomb mentioned weathering to be about one inch in 20 yoarc, but some use of burned brick in California for documentary study of buildings indicate! variable arches and relieving arches. rates of v.'ear. Xublor rives the size of an average adobe unit ar> 10" x 18" x 5" in Colonial tines; 4" x Some authors use the term pise to include 0" x 16" in modern tirr.es. mud brick and adobe, thus introducing uncer- 4 tainty as to their exact meaning. The defi- Rexford Kewconb, The Old Mission Cnurc'f..;p_ ana. Histo- ric Mouses of California '(J^i.ila'i';l.-.hi::; i'Jo;. ^dobe nition given in Larousse, however, calls for the earth to be compressed (rammed) in place, hero was so^ctirr.on mixed with o trav; .but rr.pro of con "depended urion trio natural gro/; of fine purticlos of disintegrated rock." Composite walls in which mud-brick construc- tion was reinforced or tied with reeds, reed 5 A, . J. ... \rchit. •cl,-;r---.- of C^un^ry :io^sf; or timbers, have been built in widely (first published 1850; L'over reprint, 1'J'J'j). I; own ing distributed countries since early times. advocated units 12" x 6" x 4" in si^e, and plastering Timber frames with earth curtain walls were the exterior surface with lirne rr.or^ar. Sod walls: Early settlers in the prairie Igneous rocks have solidified underground states cut rectangular units of sod, with from liquid magma; they vary in composition, spade or shovel, and laid them in courses, size of crystals and colors. Some kinds fa- miliar to builders are granite, porphyry Floors; Tamped earthen floors supported di- and basalt. Volcanic rocks have solidified rectly on the ground have been widely em- after being brought to the surface by vol- ployed from early times; they were easily canic action, either in lava flows or burnt renewed or repaired by adding another layer. material thrown up into the air, later con- Clay was also used for sub-flooring from an- solidated. Tuff or tufa is probably the cient times, especially toder plaster or most common building stone of this kind. concrete. V/ace^ found both finish floors Sedimentary rocks have been formed by the and sub-floors of clay at Mycenae. Evans^ gradual accumulation of material on the bot- mentioned pavements of clay and red earth tom of seas, lakes or rivers, where it co- on upper floors as well as ground floors, heres more or less through pressure and the at Knossos. Wood 3 cited several English cementing properties of its components. Eedieval examples of wooden upper floors Sedimentary rocks commonly show stratifica- covered with tamped earth; one of them was tion; in building it is customary to lay a royal chapel built for Henry III in 1260. them "on their natural bed." Sandstone and limestone belong to this family; some lime- Other uses_of_ clay; Plastering with clay stone, however, is oolitic and does not show is. mentioned in another section of this es- stratification. Metaniorpjiic rocks are those say. It has been extensively employed as a which have undergone a transformation after roof covering and for waterproofing courses, their original formation, granite becoming but these elements are outside the scope of gneiss, limestone becoming marble, and shale topics covered here. becoming slate.

STONE: Alan J. 3, V/aco, Myconag (Princeton, .,. J. : 1349). In the South House "bascr.or.t roo::.s yore floored with Stone has been the material used in many white clay ..." Two chambers iu the Palace had floors civilizations for their best buildings. They of clay. The Ke^aron of the Palace had a stucco floor have endured where buildings of other mate- resting "on a layer of boaten earth about O.jJO -".. rials have disappeared and thus offer to the thick which in its turn rests on a fill of loose architectural historian good examples to stone." study at first hand. In the United States. 2 as in other parts of the world, the labor Arthur Evans, The Palace of Minos at Kno:;sos (London: and cost of transporting heavy bulky materi- 1921). 3 als encouraged builders to depend on those Margaret Wood, The English Mediaeval House (London: which could be found near the building site. 196p). Henry III in;:; tructed the balii'f "re well earth Structures of stone are largely restricted the flooring (nJanchiciiun) at Havering ..." The hall to regions in which it could be found; lo- floor at the Old Deanery, Salisbury (1256-74) was of cal kinds predominate in these regions. tamped chalk. Rocks possess the natural property of break- able (as to strength, durability, etc.) and ing rather cleanly along two planes which, to allow an ample factor of safety (to the fortunately for builders, occur at (or near- extent that loads and stresses could be es- ly at) right angles to each other. Normally timated. the direction of easiest cleavage is called the rift, and the second is called the Stone suitable for building is found in many grain, although sometimes (as when speaking parts of the world. Ancient empires of the of marble) these terms are synonymous. Mediterranean region and nations of Western Sedimentary rocks, especially sandstone, Europe generally possessed it, although some usually break along the plane of their natu- areas did not, notably Mesopotamia, northern ral bed. The cleavage of crystalline rocks, Germany and the Netherlands, and part of whether they were formed by cooling of mol- southern France. ten magma or by metamorphosis, occurs along planes determined by the nature of their In northeastern United States are many stones crystal structure, a subject which has been deposited by glaciers, often from distant intensively studied by geochemists during original sources. Those of the Wisconsin Ice the last 60 years. Early stoneworkers had Age (between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago) are to learn about this through experience, the mostly as fresh and solid as quarried stone.3 ability to discern the directions of cleav- age in a particular piece of rock being one mark of their expertise. Rocks in the earth's crust and mantle have

been subjected to a variety of forces: move- « \ • * « • ft™"! « * * * • ij ..*! -_••"** • *. • • ments of the crust, shock waves, and flows of molten lava with consequent high tempera- tures. Those nearest the surface have also been affected by weathering, generally to a I • h> -* r' f \S depth of 15 or 20 feet. As a result, actual ./•' *"< ,'' N«~ ' or incipient cracks in the natural rock are commonly found. Their spacing may be from GLACIATED AREAS''(after I>anbar) about one foot to hundreds of feet, depending upon circumstances; at times it may be amaz- ingly regular. Natural breaks in the rock a,re exploited in quarrying. Rocks affected Oliver Bowles, The Stone Indus tries (Now York: 1934) by weathering are relatively easy to obtain 2 but they often prove to be defective after Brian Has on, Principles of Gciocho:r.istry, cecond cd. being placed in a building. Because no two (New York: I960). pieces of stone are alike, builders through- •z out history have been careful to select Carl 0. Dunbar, Historical Geolory, cecond ed. (New York: 1961). those which experience had shown to be suit- EARLY STONE QUARRYING IN THE UNITED STATES: A PARTIAL LIST Date Place Kind Authority c. 1580 Anastasia Island, Florida Coquina Bowles by 1639 Hartford (Little River), Connecticut Red Sandstone Isham and Brown 1643 New London, Connecticut Gneiss Kelly by 1644 Windsor, Connecticut I s h am and 3 r o wn 1648 New London, Connecticut Granite Isham and Brown 1664 Grand Island Bounty, Vermont Lime marble Bowles bef. 1665 Portland Vicinity, Connecticut Sandstone Merrill by 1665 Middletown, Co^nnecticut Isham and Brown c. 1682 Philadelphia Vicinity, Pennsylvania Gneiss Merrill by 1?40 Harrisours Vicinity, Pennsylvania Limestone Bowles bef. -1757 Aquia Creek, Virginia Sandstone (used on Aquia Church) c/ 1758 Richmond County, Virginia Sandstone Morrison c. 1776 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Marble Merrill 1785 East Dorset, Vermont Marble Merrill 1763 Grand Isle County, Vermont Marble Bowles 1792 Eaddam Neck, Connecticut Gneiss Merrill 1800 Town of New Milford, Connecticut Marble Merrill c. 1802 West Stockbridge, Massachusetts Marble Merrill bef. 1810 Chelmsford, Massachusetts Granite Merrill by 1315 Baltimore County, Maryland Marble Forman by 1816 Cecil and Baltimore Counties, Md. Granite Bowles by 18 16 Concord, New Hampshire Granite Kidder by 1821 Easton Vicinity, Pennsylvania Limestone Bowles 1824 Sandy Hook, Town of Gloucester, Mass. Granite Merrill 1825 Quincy, Massachusetts • .; '• . Granite Merrill 1825 Augusta, Maine (Twhing Ledge) Granite Merrill c. 1825 Anisquam, Massachusetts Granite Merrill 182? Rockport, Massachusetts Granite Merrill c. 1830 Dover, New York Marble Merrill c. 1830 Rutland, Vermont Marble Merrill by 1832 Mt. Pleasant (Sing Sing), New York Marble McKee 1836 Augusta, Maine Granite Merrill 1836 Waldo County, Maine Granite Merrill 1838 West Rutland, Vermont Marble Merrill 1838 - Hawkins County, Tennessee Marble Bowles c, 1840 Pickens County, Georgia . Marble Bowles 1848 Bay View, Massachusetts Granite Merrill Rocks deposited or exposed by glacial action were used by early builders, often without any attempt to work or shape them, Isham DISTRIBUTION OF GRANITE said that granite, trap, greenstone, sand- AND ALLIED ROCKS stone and gneiss boulders were found in Con- (after Bowles) necticut and utilized without alteration. The walls of the Jean Kasbrouck house at New paltz, New York, built in 1712, illustrate a use of field stones common to the Hudson Valley and northern New Jersey, where many pieces were used in their natural shape, and scnie were broken or split before laying up. .lock ledges exposed by stream erosion, as well as outcropping formations, offered a convenient source of material which could .be broken out by a few men and used satisfacto- rily for house walls and foundations. Some- times rocks were t alt en out of stream beds. A ledge at Middletown, Connecticut, was in usa by inhabitants of the town, to whom it was restricted, as early as 1665; apparently each took out what he wanted himself, and paid twelve pence per ton to the town.-1- Quarrying on a large scale for commercial MARBLE DEPOSIT^ exploitation was little practiced in the (after Bowles),' United States before the nineteenth century. Public buildings and churches helped to cre- ate a sufficient demand .to make commercial operation profitable, but it should also be noted that funerary monuments (marble) and iron working (limestone) accounted for a significant share of quarrying. Engineer- ing construction (bridges, harbor works, ca- nal locks) also stimulated the stone indus- tries.

Methods of quarrying developed in ancient 1 Ishasi and Brown, Early Connecticut.Houses, republi- times continued in use well into the nine- cation (Hew York: 1Q65). teenth century. First, a cliff face or a was readied; on the floor, blocks of the desired size were outlined! and separated Maul by channels several inches wide, cut (usual- STONE TOOLS ly with a pick) to the depth of a course. FOR WORKING The blocks were then sr>lit off from the rock STONE, c. 1100 by a line of wedges driven into the outer A.D. From As the extraction/progressed, a series Chapin Mesa of teps >r terraces were formed, each sever- Museum, Mesa al blocks in width. The|e blocks were usual- Verde, Colorado. iy cut to the approximate1 size and shape de- sired for buildng purposes before removal from the quarry site, to minimize the haul- ing of waste material. hammer and sometimes for splitting them. Wedges of Before iron tools for cutting and dressing copper are thought to have been used by the stone became available, edges of flint, chert, Egyptians. Bromehead- reproduced calcite and nephrite were adapted to hammers iron wedges used to split rock in and chisels of wood or bone. Pounding stones the sixteenth century (from Agri- with or without the aid of abrasives (emery cola) in Europe, and Roman iron or sand) were also used to "cut" blocks and miners' picks of the first or sec- smooth their surfaces. The Egyptians used ond century (nearly identical in reeds and abrasive to drill holes in hard shape with picks of near-modern stones in making jewelery, but I have no evi- times). The lewis is another dence that this method was applied to build- device known from the time of ing stone. The Egyptians and Minoans sawed the Hellenic Greeks. It is an stones with copper blades fed with sand or iron tenon, made in sections, set with emery teeth about 1/16" long. Emery which can be fitted into a dove- or corundum is surpassed in hardness only by tail mortise, used in lifting or diamond. Small hand-held saws and frame saxes' hoisting stones. with a toothless blade of copper or soft iron common in Europe, to obtain relatively Wooden mallets or iron hammers thin slabs (especially of marble), but were have long been used by stone- little used in the United States before the cutters and carvers to drive their chisels. introduction of water-powered gang saws into Heavier sledges were used for driving wed- the marble industry about 180^; sand was the ges and drills. usual abrasive.

From ancient times, wooden wedges were used to detach blocks from the quarry face and to According to Brornehead, in A History' of Tfccr.nolot'--y subdivide them. The wedges were fitted tight- (London: 1056), Vol. 2. ly into a row of holes and then expanded by wetting. Levers were used in moving stones 8 •-•

Cutting tools of Iron and steel remained essentially the same in form throughout his- toric times but were Improved in quality as better methods of working and tempering the metal were developed. Toward the end of the nineteenth century power-driven machines began to supplant hand methods: channeling machines in the quarry, planing machines in the mill, and pneumatic hammers for drilling and chiseling. Working and finishing stones by hand are virtually unkno".. in the United States today.

^^ ^t±±r_i-_-r- ^VjJ-y,* — n *\-T Tf There were several distinct 15. X^"x I stages in preparing a block i | from the quarry for its place : ! 1I in a building, each as a rule i\ hnnl ^' '/ W ^ ^ r i ^ i r performed by a different work- : I ' *r-<\! r1 ) \s / ii . jfrf in 1 i man. First, ' the ill I ill) I ! "^ & * • rr "^. *- •— • — i ars~e "D^ eces were V- ill 1 ! 1 I; i I ^ r| subdivided; crude 1 |1 111 \ • j methods were employed at times, : -s. i 'i F' I V J Vv, if ' !h ' ( as in breaking granite at til ! i )\ • r T^ I^ U-*"- \ J ^^— M ; \ i L;' . . j ] Quincy, Massachusetts in the V'1 i^- f V? i! i j! { [i; , late eighteenth century. Ir-. I'-' 1 ? \ — _V 1 ' y i' ( 17 f \ J \\ 1 '•! I regular blocks w^:.a squared to Si 1 \7 !\ 0 the de3ired slZG ^y cutting a 6. I V VV J 'V// VrurvTuruPti/ \ vj V v • groove along a straight line T. S. 9. 10. 11. 1-4. I', lo. I/. with an axhammer (ax or pean- hammer) and striking repeated 1. English pole pickick. . 2. Italian pick, l6th c. 3. Ax, or pean- blows on both sides'of the hammer. ^. Hand hammer. 5. Sledge-hammer. 6. Roman point. groove. The stone did not al- 7. 16th c. Italian point. 8. 19th c. American point. 9. Narrow ways break cleanly, however, chisel. 10. 16th c. tooth chisel. 11. 19th c. tooth chisel. pOr the construction of King's 12-13. Wide chisels, 19th c. 14-15. Pitching chisel. 16. Bush chapel in Boston, 17^9 to 175^, hammer. 17. 16th c. Italian drill. 18. 19th c. drill. local granite boulders were 19. 19th c. drill, also called Jumper. 20. Wooden mallet. • heated by building fires around them, which must have set up internal stresses, and then broken by drop- (called jsonuina) at St. Augustine, Florida, ping heavy iron balls on then;from a consid- was hewn with a narrow-bitted hatchet into erable height. Splitting stores by driving regula• o r rectangular blocks. Gneiss was a row of wedges into holes, was practiced by one of the most readily worked .rocks avail- John Bartram of Pennsylvania, and described able to early builders; it is derived from by him in a latter dated January 24, 1757. granite by the natural processes of meta- This method of drilling and wedging was ap- morphosis, including great pressure. It is parently introduced into (New England only composed mainly of the minerals quartz, about 1800, when it greatfly benefited the feldspar and mica, whose crystals, especial- granite industry.2 ly mica, are arranged in approximately paral- lel layers. Gneiss can be split into con- The use of plug and feathers in venient pieces with parallel flat surfaces round holes has been described with a minimum of other treatment; these by Gillette:3-'With plug holes slabs are generally broken into either rec- only 5 ins. deep a block of gran- tangular or irregular pieces. ite 6 ft. thick can be split, leaving a face almost as flat as GNEISS WALLS a board. For granite blocks 3 ft. thick, a hole 2^ or 3 ins. ' Courthouse LaFayette'S^ deep will suffice. Some lime- at Chester, Headquar- ^—-7==>>^ P o 19PiL 1- c» -r o —r?-) ^-Ct stones also break remarkably well with ^Tcl . 2. ( C.'-r . t< tJX o s rr^_JL_^iC___^ — — shallow plug holes, but marbles and sand- Chadd' s ^sz?-S3.^" T stones as a rule require deep holes ... Ford, pa. 18th c. In nost sandstones ...the holes are usual- ly It? to 2 ins. diam., and ...of a depth Sandstone can often be broken off rather equal to 2/3 the thickness of the stone.... cleanly, if the slab is not too thick. This spaced 4 to 16 ins. apart.... is done by placing it over a straight edge and striking repeated blows with a hammer. 'By timing a number of masons at work split- Presumably this was the method employed by ting granite blocks 24 to 30 ins. thick, I the Pueblo Indians and Cliff Dwellers in found that each man drilled each hole (5/3- the Southwest, for building sandstone walls. in. diam. x 2-£ ins. deep) in a trifle less than 5 mins., by striking about 200 blows; and it took about 1 min. for placing and George P. Merrill, jjtoru.-rj for Builclin/r and Decoration third fid. (Now York: lfjlO). striking each set of plug and feathers. 2 Blocks 30 in. long, with four plug holes, See Arthur W. Brayley, H.istpry Of the Granite Industry were drilled and split ...in 24- mins. on of New England (Boston: i'jl'ji). the average. At this rate, a good workman Kalbort ?. Gillette, Keck SxcjivalioM (:iew York: 1307). can drill and plug 80 holes in 8 hours.1 . Albert I-Ianucy, The Houses of Jt. Au.-ustir.o (jt. Au Simpler methods often suffice. Shellstone tine, ?la.: 1Q62). 10 .

SANDSTONE WALLS Circular structure, Third degree of finish. The first step in squaring Developmental Pueblo Vil- up a block was to banker up the widest bed or lage, c. 107^-1200, Mesa surface. The workman drew a straight line at Verde National Park, Colo. one edge and pitched or Called off the deb- ris or waste above it, using a TJ 11 c hi n g __c h i - Chaco Indian Pueblo, jsel (see illus. 1^-15 on page 9). This fi_rst c. 1100, Aztec Ruins draft was then refined'with a cutting, chisel. National Monument, Next, a draft was made on an adjoining side New Mexico. of the surface, perpendicular to the first one; these two defined the plane of the fin- ished surface. 3y careful use of a straight End wall Front wall edge and by sighting,, the other two corners Church 2 miles east were similarly cut. Nex (see ill. of Lewisberry, Pa., 6-7-8 on page 9) was'used to p_clnt of f the 1811. Brownstone debris to within about ^ inch of the surface, gathered from fields; which was further smoothed with a pean ham- units on the facade mer (see illus. 3 on page 9). The surface roughly squared. just completed became the bottom bed of the stone; the next surface to be dressed was From my observation of sandstone walls in the fa c e. After cutting its four drafts with Pennsylvania, New York and New England I a narrow chisel, the surface was worked over conclude that the shaping of stones by break- with a point to within £ inch of its finish ing was common in the eighteenth and nine- plane, then with a pean hammer to within 1/8 teenth centuries there. inch, and finally one or more bush_hamm_ers of increasing fineness (see illus. lo~~on Sandstone and limestone, being sedimentary page 9). After that the top bed was dressed in origin, are often noticeably stratified with a point to a slightly concave surface and can be split along these planes, using (to hold the mortar better). Finally the a mason's ax or a wide chisel. end .joints and inner joint or surface were dressed. The operation just described was For the better classes of stonework it was intended for granite, but for other kinds of desirable to have rectangular shaped units. stone the essential method was the same. The trimming of blocks to this shape was On softer stones tooth chisels or wide chi- first done roughly (called sgabbling), com- sels (see illus. 10-11-12-13 on page 9), monly using a pick. The degree of dressing driven by a hammer or mallet, would have or finishing of the surfaces depended upon "been used. the architectural effect desired and upon See "Practical Stone Cutting," an article by Prof. the money the customer was willing to pay. W. P. Trowbridge in (Columbia) School of Kino The processes progressed from rougher to torl.y, June, 1683. Dressing soft stones required finer and the stone could be employed at any greater skill than dressing granite, ccrjr^nded a 11 . higher wage. When the surface of a wall is not excessive- and hauling by ox-cart. Sometimes rail lines ly weathered, careful examination may indi- were laid at the quarry, for moving large cate what finishing tool wa last used in stones on horse-drawn carriages. A notable dressing the stone. American example of this is afforded by the "Bunker Hill" quarry at Quincy, Massachu- Smooth finishes were obtained by rubbing setts, opened about 1825 under the direction with abrasive blocks (commonly sandstone), of Solomon VJillard and Gridley Bryant. Lift- at first by hand but latter (at least in the ing .jacks and p^ulling .lacks of improved de- nineteenth century) by uower-drlven machines. sign were also used there.1" Cast-iron grinders were ''also used; these were round horizontal discs which rotated on top of the stone being finished. An abrasive powder accomplished the grinding, succes- sively finer grades being introduced (as in polishing marble and granite).

During historical times, stoneworkers were generally grouped into categories according PULLING JACK: Gearing HOISTING JACK: Screw- to tasks: auarrisers who extracted and roughly enabled a man to pull ing to lift heavy shaped the blocks; r o u g_h - m as on s who dressed with 10 tons of force. stones onto a carri- blocks and cut straight mouldings; freer.iasonsj age. v;ho did carvings and the more intricate shapes and mouldings; layers or setters who In New England, heavy stones were transport- placed the blocks in the building. All of ed over land by oxen; winter, when the' earth these specialists had laborers to assist was frozen and oxen could be spared from them. Stonework was done under the direc- farm work, was the preferred season for tion of a master-mason who, among other large operations of the kind illustrated by things, could check the accuracy of the work, hauling columns for the Old Court House in rcake geometrical layouts and draw details. Boston (1836; Solomon Willard, architect). workmen began their career by being appren- Each column was 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, 2? ticed to a master, whom they helped and from ft. high, and weighed about 30 tons. 65 vrhoia they learned. yoke of oxen and 12 horses comprised a team to draw them about ten miles from Quincy, Stones were transported from quarry to build- at a cost of $100 per column. ing site in various ways: dragging on sledges or stone-boats drawn Hoisting or raising stones into place in raen or oxen; pul- building was also done in various ways. It on rollers by is generally thought that the Egyptians pul- disciplined groups of workmen! floating on 1 rafts or boats whenever possible, especially Arthur \l. iirayloy, History of the Gr;i::iio LLJuf;try ci when great distances had to be traversed; ri'.'v/ ^nrlancl (.Boston: I')!';)). 12 led large stones up earthen ramps but there each weighs about one ton. Greek builders has been much speculation as to the exact frequently tied adjoining blocks together method. The Greeks and Romans used hoists with iron clamps placed in small grooves; with a windlass ana pulley, and molten lead then filled the grooves and knew the princi- pie of the cora- protected the iron from oxidation, thus pound pulley from the time of avoiding its expansion and cracking of the Archimedes on, but its use for stone. building was probably ex- ceptional. Medieval build- In both Egyptian and Greek temple construc- ers, who rarely used stones of tion, the exposed surfaces of walls and great weight, regularly em- columns, parts most liable to damage during ployed a windlass for hoisting, building operations, were left in a roughly operated by several men dressed state until erection was complete, who turned 13th c. spoked wheels, when the final, dressing of the stone was They also WINDLASS hoisted mater- done, from the top downward as scaffolding ials with a • great wheel or earthen ramps were taken down. counted on — the tie beams of their roof trusses, Most stone-building civilizations have used powered by men inside it as mortar to fill the joints. Mortar permits a treadmill. From the fifteenth century on construction of weather-tight walls even swivel cranes were developed with irregular stones, and reasonably strong walls of small (easily handled) units. There In many parts of the world simple stone huts are many ways or patterns of laying stone, have been built of irregular units, either for which the terminology differs with time laid dry (without mortar) or with clay mor- and place. Osborne^ makes the following ma- tar. Egyptian and Greek temple walls were jor distinctions: 'Lumps of stone for build- also laid dry, the size and weight of the ing work are used either uncut and irregu- blocks assuring stability. Each stone in an lar as they come from the quarry, roughly Egyptian wall was of a different size, shaped cut to rectangular faces, more carefully to fit its neighbors with a fine joint (on shaped and selected to lie in horizontal the surface). The finer walls of the Minoans courses, or cut and shaped so that the edges and the Incas are comparable in their use of of the blocks form accurate rectangles, the individually shaped pieces, which are some- visible faces being rubbed true and smooth. times polygonal in shape; the beds do not al- The last type is known as ashlar; the others ways follow a straight line. The Hellenic are all forms of rubblj3_ masonry. . . .Rubble Greeks built dry walls of squared blocks masonry may be divided into two main kinds, generally uniform in size, perhaps not strict- in which the blocks are either uncut or ly "interchangable" but sized according to an roughly squared. Of the former, random rub- all-over plan. Blocks in the Temple of Apol- ble consists of blocks of various shapes and lo at Bassae, for example, are about I'-ip high, 2'-4» in depth and b to 5 feet long; A. L. Csbornc, A Dictionary o )0":^sc 13 •tecture (New York: I(j3b) . sizes laid with thick mortar Joints, and Thick masonry walls were often finished with often plastered over, while coursed random a (non load-bearing) surface veneer of mar- rubbl_e refers to the use of unc|ut blocks ble, colored tiles, or other particularly selected to bed horizontally, and is found fine material; such "encrusted", buildings in districts v;here the stone splits or were prominent in the Roman and Byzantine "cleaves" regularly.... examples remain in Empires and Islamic countries. During var- which the stones are cut /almost as careful- ious historical periods walls were made with ly as in ashlar work . . .cfut rubble is a carefully cut stone faces and rubble cores. term sometimes used for tJhese types . . . ' The cores had wider joints and a greater per- centage of mortar than the faces; consequen- tly they shrank or slumped, leaving a dis- proportionate share of the load to be car- uXO^o^ ried by the facing. Many European buildings O^3Kn/& from the sixteenth century on, when this practice was especially common, have devel- oped serious structural difficulties (as the piers supporting the dome of St. Paul's Ca- thedral, London).

Ur.coursed Fieldstone Polygonal or Random To carry the weight of a masonry wall above Rubble door and window openings several structural devices have been used. Stone lintels can span a narrow opening satisfactorily but for wider openings .ar£he_s of various shapes have been employed. Sometimes corbels were used, especially when only small stones were av- ailable. Wooden lintels are relatively com- mon, both exposed and hidden behind an ap- L parent stone lintel; shrinkage and ultimate Coursed Ashlar deterioration of wooden lintels are disad- vantages. The desire to make buildings fire- Coursed Rubble proof and enduring has sometimes led to the use of stone beams and ceiling slabs to cov- er interior spaces. Since only short dis- tances can safely be spanned in this manner numerous intermediate supports had to be pro- vided. To obtain larger unencumbered inter- I ior rooms various kinds of masonry vaults and domes were developed, notable examples Random Ashlar being erected by the ancient Romans and the Gothic church builders. "Corbeled vaults" STONE BONDS are also to be found, as in Minoan and Mayan construction. Even in Hellenic Greece, stone BRICK: beams were occasionally strengthened by in- serting pieces of wrought ironj, but it was Burned brick, as well as unburned ones, have only in the nineteenth century that cast-iron, been used for building from very early tines. Drought-iron and steel beams came to be com- Their first stage of manufacture is similar monly used to support masonry above an open- to that described above (p. 2). Many kinds ing. of clayey, material are suitable, the best being those whose content of sand and silt Stone colors: Those found in the United States is sufficient (up to about 3^) to keep the offer a considerable variety of color, the shrinkage minimal. The color of the finished ~ost common bein listed here. product depends upon both the cc.T.position and the firing. Burning was sometimes done Limestone: characteristically light gray, also in open heaps but special kilns were used bluish gray, deep blue, brownish gray, occa- even in the earliest times. They were of sionally cream and buff. the vertical type, having a lower chamber in which fuel was burned', and an :'oven" above, Marble: White, gray, black, bluish, greenish, •where the dried units were stacked for firing. pink, rose, buff, chocolate. In large kilns the lower chamber consisted of a series of parallel horizontal ducts. This Sandstone: Red, pink, brown, purplish brown, general type of kiln persisted throughout buff, blue. historical times, Fuel was brushwood, straw, turf 5 timber or coal (in recent times) accor- Granite: characteristically light or dark ding to the resources of the region. In re- jray, also near- white, black, shades from gions where fuel was scarce or expensive light pink to red, bluish and greenish gray. brick firing was reduced to a minimum and sundried brick construction predominated.

) I I Medieval Level

n, from a MS.* Egyptian Levels Mason's Trowel Primitive Vertical Kiln for pottery or brick.* (* after A History of Technology) ..-.•.• Hcnian bricks were about 1-i?" thick; their size. Those intended. Tor cutting or rubbing other dimensions varied: one foot by I-fe were usually softer and finer in texture than feet; about one foot square; jab out two ordinary bricks, and brighter in color (red, feet square; and triangular shapes obtain- as a rule) so as to contrast with the rest of ed by dividing the square and rectangular the wall; characteristically, they were em- ones. When laid in a wall a Roman brick ployed for trim on doorways, windows, chim- appeared long and thin, and we use the term ney stacks, etc. today to denote a long, thin face. Flemish- bricks of the late 13th century were of the BRICK BONDS following sizes (length, width, thickness): r ; __L 3" to 9 3A" by 3 3A" to 4 3A" by 1 3A" i to 2" . Dutch bricks of the 15th century i i i i v;ere 611 to 8£» by 3" to 3 3A" by 1 3/8" to i \ i 3 A". English bricks of the early 19th tmn i i i century were approximately 9" by 4-g-" by 3". r s \ Brick size by itself is not usually suffi- n — ^^ \_ cient evidence for the historian to estab- (common) English Bond Flemish Bond lish a building date. i^rllEi stretcher E1-J3 header Qcloser Because bricks are small and light in weight, :o' sake a strong wall they must be made to overlap (bend with) each other, and must al- so be held together by a mortar havin.^v^^g suf- ficient cohesive and adhesive strength. Walls being two or more layers in thickness, the manner in which the layers are bonded togeth- er is an important factor in the over-all strength; incidentally it creates character- American (common) Bond. Variant of common Sng- istic patterns on the face of the wall. The (19th and 20th c.) lish Bond, also found bonds most familiar to settlers in the Ameri- in the United States can colonies were those of northern Europe: English bond and Flemish bond.

The decorative possibilities of brick have been exploited in a number of ways: special pattern work, paneling, string courses and Gauged Flat French or corbel cornices, all done with standard units. Arch Dutch Arch Specially made bricks have often been employ- ed, by being moulded into the desired shape before firing, by being cut or carved, and by being _rubbed with an abrasive block to precise TYPES OF FLAT BRICK ARCHES 16 EARLY BRICK MANUFACTURE IN THE UNITED STATES: A PARTIAL LIST Date Place Person Authority by 1611 Virginia Kimball by 1623 New Amsterdam (New York), New York Morrison 1629 Salem, Massachusetts Zlegler 1630 Chelsea, Massachusetts Morrison c. 1630 Rensselaervjicfk (near Albany) , New York The Patroon Morrison by 1635 Hartford, Corjnecticut I sham '!c Brown by 164-0 New Haven, Connecticut I sham & Brown c. 1640 Jamestown, Virginia Cotter c. 1641 New Haven, Connecticut Kelly 1643 Plymouth, Massachusetts Kimball 1645 New Haven, Connecticut John Benham Ishas & Brown 1646 New Haven, Connecticut Edward Shinfield Ishan & Brown ;y 1653 Maryland Kiaball '- 6 ; New Castle, Delaware Ziegler : . 1'.', New Haver., Connecticut Theonhilus Eaton Kelly 1 2 Charleston, South Carolina Morrison '. V 1 0 C -L Philadelphia,, perm.: ylvanla Kimball

• (;cr-ar»tov;n, Pennsylvania Ziegler Hack Hlver, South Carolina Zach. Villepontoux Ravenel L?53 Stotz

.. .;.-. XK olZrJ," / Herbert A. Claiborne, Comments on Virginia Brickwork ••.''ore 1600 (The Walpole Society, 1957)_7"" /c•::;•:;i'.o;-;n Church, tower: 3 3/4" x 4" x 2-j" ; 8 courses to 22 3/4". ;-rutor. parish Church, Williamsburg: 9" x 4-|» x 2 3/4"; 8 courses to yi--'23 President's House, V/illiarasburg: 9" x 4-^" x 2 5/8"; 8 courses to 25". VJ 17.:o Berkeley, Charles City County: 8" x 4" x 2-5"; 8 courses to 23-^". ; c. 1730 Stratford, Westmoreland County: below water table, 8£" to 9" x 4" x 2^"f .8 courses to 24"; above water table, 8 3/4" x 4^" x 2^", 8 courses to 20". ! 17/0 Williansburg Court House: 8 3/4" to 9" x 4" x 2 3/4"; 8 courses to 26". ; c. 1775 Wythe House, Williamsburg: 8-£" x 4" x 2 5/8" to 2 3/4"; 8 courses to 24 3A".'

17 Xortar Joint are a conspicuous element in Brick building has been especially favored brick walls. During the several centuries in certain regions, such as Persia, north- following the fall of the western Roman Em- ern Italy, Flanders, Holland ani the Baltic pire Roman bricks continued in use in west- area of Germany, From the northern centers, ern Europe, often laid with joints as wide especially Flanders, workmen came to Eng- as or wider than the brick itself (as in a land in the late middle ages, and their prac- 6th-century church at Ravenna, whose joints tices largely formed the tradition brought' vary from 3/^" to 2"). Narrower joints were by builders into the English Colonies in the rule later (as in a 12th-century church America. The brick mason or bricklayer of in Bologna where bricks 12-^" by 6 3/8" by northern Europe was skilled in all branches 3 1/8" were laid with joints 5/8" to 3/4" of his craft, ornamental as well as routine wide) . 3y the 17th century joints in Eng- work. His tools were few: a trowel similar land were normally 3/8" to ?>-" wide, as they to that used today (see illus. on p. 15), a today. hammer to break (cut).- bricks, ana a 1 eyel (of the frame and plumb-bob type--see p. 15" As in the case of stone masonry, arches, before the introduction of the spirit level, vaults arid domes have been built of brick around the l?th century). On the job, during a number of historical periods. Ce- bricks were moved about on a wheelbarrow and ramic tiles have been used extensively to lifted by a simple windlass and pulley hoist. cover roofs and to pave floors and terraces. Mortar was carried up a ladder in wooden Architectural terra cotta is a closely re- buckets or in hods by assistants. The master lated product, finer in texture than most brick mason regularly contracted for the brick, moulded or modeled before being fired erection of entire buildings, in the regions in the kiln. The Italians have been espec- where his trade predominated. ially famous for their terra cotta trim, or- nament and architectural sculpture, in its Brick and stonejwal1s; Masonry combining the natural color or with applied polychrome two materials was common, in which either glazes. In England and France during the the brickwork formed a structural core (back late 18th century several manufacturers de- • up), which was faced or veneered with stone, veloped materials of secret composition some- or the brickwork was supplemented by stone what comparable to terra cotta. probably the in places requiring its strength (founda- best known of these was "Coade stone," of tions, water tables, string courses, level- which many doorways, mantelpieces and other ing and bonding courses, corner quoins, sills, ornamental details were made. Coade stone lintels, coping) and wherever it was desired was imported into the United States; a well for ornamental effect (cornice, trim, panels, known instance is mantelpieces in the Octa- frontispieces, etc.). gon House, Washington, D. C. (1798-1800). Terra cotta window caps, mouldings and other Masonry; This term originally denoted stone- ornamental details were manufactured in New work, and distinguished it from brickwork. York in the mid-19th century, and shipped At present, the term includes not only brick- to various cities in the United States. work, but concrete as well. 18 MORTAHi ' ,~\> rpi ^ '~> .: Plenty of instances can be found in the Unit- ed States. Kelly • describe i. walls of field v.ortar ' performs several functi>ns: it fills stone and of split gneiss, in Connecticut, the space between masonry unit 3 which do not with clay mortar; he attributed this prac- fit exactly, it helps make a wall weather- tice to 'scarcity of lime and the difficul- tight, it enables bricks and small stones to ty of getting it.' Bailey^ described stone form a coherent mass, and it acts as a lub- walls in northern New Jersey and the Hudson ricant to permit sliding heavy stones into Valley, in which 'the binding was mud or position. The form and color of mortar clay, strengthened by straw or hogs' hair. "joints are elements contributing to the vis- Straw may still be picked out of the mortar ual effect of a wall. in the old wing of the Packer house (perhaps .1789), and likewise hogs' hair from the Clay mortar: This has been the mortar used Brickman-Ackerson house (probably c. 17^-7). for walls of unburned brick in all but ex- This binding was used for even the later ceptional cases.-'- It has also been widely houses and is not so crude as it sounds . . . ' used for stone walls for various reasons-, in She also mentioned cases where the joints regions where lime was difficult to obtain, had been repcinted with lime mortar. The in dry climates, and to economize. Good New Jersey clay was relatively impervious to clay mortar joints are capable of bearing moisture but it could be eroded by strong heavy leads but in humid climates they need rains. These stone walls 'were built from to be protected against the rain; the pent one and a half to three feet thick. They • roof at the second-story level of stone were sometimes covered with a sand and 'lime houses in eastern Pennsylvania is thought by wash and frequently whitewashed or painted.1 r.any persons to have served this purpose originally. Old interior chimneys are com- Gyp sun mortar; In Egypt, as at the pyramids conly found to have clay mortar between the •of Giza, gypsura mortar was used to lubricate bricks, below the roof line (it can be noted .the bed in placing large stones into posi- that the heat in the flue hardened clay mor- tar into burned clay, at the interior of the chimney). Sometimes stone walls were laid Rexford i.'cj'.vco:.ib, in-Tha (jl;: h:i::.:i(X! J:.ur.-:.':-:-c and lliz- in. clay mortar throughout most of the thick- M.-iro;-!.-;; ^hilad.;. •.r.ia : Ijo , , cited ness, and pointed near the outer surface u:;o^ of li:".e-cand ncrtar v/itn adobe brie!-:;:,' as a~ San with lime mortar; unless this practice can Luis Roy Ilisnion, where joints wore about, 2" wide. o be documented, however, it is also logical ~ Alan J. B. V/ace, Il^^rvievfrriacetcn, J. J. : 134};. to conclude that the lime mortar was inser- ted after the clay had partially eroded out. ; Arthur EvaniJ, The Palace of l'.i:i^z. <,~ Kr.s — oa (Lor;aon: 1921). Wace2 cited the use of yellow clay from Ple- ^ J. Frederick Kelly, T:^ Sarlv L'o-^nc Architecture sia, as mortar in rubble walls in Mycenaean cf Connocticut (ru print, :Jew York: i^o^j. buildings. Evans^ mentioned walls of rough- 5 " ly hewn blocks, with filling in of smaller Rosalie i'1. Bailey, Pro-Iicvolutic::arv i^t-ch Houses... stones and chips, in clay mortar at Xnossos. (i.rew York: 1936). 19 some cases to equalize the bear- The kiln ;:.r, as between the aoacuabacus aan!d the lower part is the i: :' a column capital.1 The Parthi4n buildings rO *. ' •'• ancient "Persia, ^enerall used gypsum mor- more efficient; ' T f- T.r^ c- ivr for both stone and "brickwork." _L L- .. c.^ ^j material in the kiln set- :.iso used in thin arches where strong bearing tled, more was added, and ..,-.-.s needed, in medieval Prance, as in the the calcined "orcduct was -,-ji1" rose window of the Cathedral of Paris.-' : withdrawn from time to 1 do no"3 know any instances of gypsum mortar time at the bottom. The in the United States; its use as plaster will amount of fuel c< ::o mentioned in a later section of this essay. wa s sub s t ant i a 1.Sals- man mentioned a com- '' ~-3 mor*ta'y"5 "•'i me and sand made un the usual plaint of 1275 that the ^ar for brick and stone construction from- • king's two lime- :.r.;ient times until the late 19th century. vi Ins '^ad used u~o ~_~ v:as slow to harden, especially in thick • 500 oak trees in" •.Mils. Many factors (preparation of the lime*, Lime Kiln: intermittent the forest of V.'el- 1:3 composition and freshness, quality of the or periodic type'(after ;r.r.d, rroiDorticning of the mixture, its wet- Norman Davey). m^s cc^ Q— r.c-ss, thoroughness of mixing, etc.) contrib- come the customary uted zo the variability of common lime mor- fuel. tar. At best it was strong and enduring; at •;:rst it soon disintegrated into sand and When calcium, carbonate is heated to around vr.i~e "cowder. Common lime mortar was not 900 degrees Centigrade, carbon dioxide is suitable for exposure to dampness. given off. The remaining calcium oxide (CaO) is called quicklime. To prevent its ;.:~e was obtained by calcining ("burning") hydration by absorbing water vapor from the limestone or certain other materials. This air, or getting wet in other ways, it is "-<3 sometimes done in open heaps but more necessary to enclose it in a tight cask or isrally kilns were employed. A common type other receDtacle. Careful builders thus '.ms circular in plan, perhaps ten feet in -lameter (smaller at top and bottom) and :v:enty feet high, with stone or brick walls, :uilt into a hillside so it could be loaded . Clarke and Enrolbach, Ancior.t !>-;n-;:.'\ :'roni the top. Alternate layers of wood and don: 1950). limestone were placed in the kiln and the llano E. ',/ulff, T Traditiona fuel ignited; the draft was controlled. Af~ bridre , F.zsz , : IQob ) . ~er burning for 1>? or 2 days and cooling for r-n sq_ual length of time, Quicklime; was re- Viollot-lc— Jjuc, moved from the bottom of the kiln and the Lcuii; P. Sal^nan, Builain/- in ;-Jn.-.-l,-.:;i.-l >ov.-n to 15^0 ashes were nicked out of it. (Oxford: 1952). 20 naid attention to freshness, but many oth- left exposed, to pick up moisture from the ers did not. Quicklime often contained Im- air. Host authorities agreed that this meth- purities which had been parti of the material od was not to be recommended. burned in the kiln: limestone, marble, marl, chalk, or shells (oyster, mussel, clam, co- Lime from different sources varied in its quina), since these substances were rarely capacity to take up water in slaking. pure calcium carbonate. In general, lime Some, called fjat, took up 1/2 of their vol- producers relied on sourc'ps which experi- ume, and produced a dry powder 3 1/2 times ence had shown to be satisfactory: i. e., the original volume of the quicklime. Oth- which did not contain exc-fessive impurities. ers, called Tneagr_e, might take up only 1/3 their volume of water, and produce a dry Although limestone and marble quarries have powder only a little greater than the origi- been the normal source of "lime rock" some nal volume. Masons preferred the fat limes, regions have had to depend on other materi- although in reality they were no better, and als. Early settlers along the Atlantic might not even be so good. • The fat limes coast of the United States found large piles did produce a larger quantity of mortar, of discarded shells (Indian middens) from from a given quantity of quicklime, than the South Carolina to Maine, which they burned others. for lime and sometimes crushed for gravel, /'.any builders of historical times thought Mixin.g mortar; Three ways of mixing mortar chat the harder the material from which the predominated: (1) mixing dry slaked-lime lime was made, the harder the mortar made powder, sand and water; (2) mixing wet with it would be; this is not so, of course. slaked-lime paste and sand, adding water if Shells, chalk and marl made lime as good as needed; (3) mixing pulverized dry quicklime, that from limestone or marble, other things sand and water, and using the mortar while being equal. it was still hot. This practice was largely confined to Great Britain. Before making mortar, quicklime was slaked (more correctly, hydratea) by the controlled In any case, the proportioning of ingredi- addition of water. One of three methods was ents was important. According to Hies and followed: (1) sprinkling or "drowning"; Eckel 'Sand is added to lime for economy Ideally, water equal in weight to 1/3 of the and to prevent shrinkage. Sand should be ... quicklime was sprinkled over it. Heat was in such quantity that the lime will fill all given off, the material cracked open and be- the interstices. If an excess of sand is came a powder, and increased in volume. used, the bond is poor. If too little sand This method was considered the best. is used, the mortar shrinks and cracks. If (2) immersion: the quicklime, placed in a too little lime is used the paste is made basket, was lowered into water for the pro- thin. In ordinary sands, the spaces form per length of time, and drawn up to complete the slaking. The handling was tricky, at best, and demanded considerable skill. Heinrich PJ.es and L'dwin G. i]ckel, Li;--; and Ce.-.-.or.t In- (3) air-slaking: the quicklime was simply dustries of :iw fork (Albany, 'A. Y. : 1901;. 21 I. 30 £ to '-1-0 £ of the total volume, and in such many writers have observed. Smith4" noted; 1 \ol, paste fills voids of 2;V vol. sand. In 'In England we slake our lime and make use practice 1.25 to 2 vol. of sand to 1 of paste of it while it is fresh; but it may inter- is used. This in case of fat'lime means 3 est you -to know that the custom in Italy to 5 vol. of sand to 1 measured vol. of lime. and parts of France is different. There This gives a plastic mortar which does not it is customary to slake the lime long be- crack.' fore it is wanted, and to deposit it in a .- pit and cover it up with earth. In this Vitruvius" gave these proportions: 'mix your condition it is left for months--! believe nortar. If using pitsand, in the proportions in Italy for a year—ana when taken out it of three parts of sand to one of (slaked) is stiff, but still a pasty substance. It lime; if using river or sea-sand, mix two is beaten, and more water added, and it is parts of sand with one of lime—.Further, then made into mortar with sand.' (Experi- ir. using river or sea-sand, the addition of ments made by Gen, Treussart in 1823-182^4- a third part composed of burnt brick, pound- proved such use of old lime to be poor ed up and sifted, will make your mortar of a practice, however. He found that mortars better composition to use.' made with it were unable to bear any ap- preciable weight.) Fartingtcn^ described Loriot's mortar: !M. Lorlot's mortar, the making of which was Among early scientists to make systematic announced by order of His Majesty at Paris experiments with lime, Joseph Black (1728- in 1??^, is made in the following manner: 1799) T'-Tas notable. While Professor of Chem- take one part of brick-dust finely sifted, istry at Glasgow University, he published two parts of fine river-sand skreenedt and in 1756 Experiments upon___?-'a.,c;n_esia alba, as much old slaked lime as may be sufficient Quicklime, and some other Alcaline substan- to form mortar with water in the usual meth- ces. He showed that chalk, when calcined, od, but so vret as to serve for the slaking gave off a gas (carbon dioxide) which he of as much powdered, quick-lime, as amounts called "fixed air," and that the remaining to one-fourth of the whole quantity of quicklime could be re-converted Into chalk brick-dust and sand. When the materials are well mixed, employ the composition quickly, as the least delay may render the applica- Vitruviua, Tho Ton Bcol-:s on Architecture, tr-ir.niated tion of it imperfect or impossible....1 by Morris Kicky Xor^m (reprint, ..":;•.•.' York: 1QCO), Book II, Chapter V, § 1. Dexter^ gave the proportion of 3 to 5 meas- ures of sand to one of lime, and cited ex- C. F. Par tin/; ton, The .Builder's Complete Guide periments made by Col. Totten indicating (London: 1825). that 'the mortar was stronger as the quanti- H. S. Dexter, Observations _o;i Calc^roouc Mortars and ty of sand was less' until a 1:1 ratio was Cqr-jntr, (Albany, J. Y.: lt-40; Donate .;;o. 12;;. reached. 4 T. Roger Smith, in The Erickbuilaor, I, I;c . 6 (June Practices varied more than proportions, . 1892). 22 by exposure to the air. Black was noted for Kydraulic V,ortar: Common lime mortar would other findings of value to the development not harden under water nor endure in moist of industry, e pecially the quantitative places. From Hellenic Greek times on there demonstration of latent heat, •which enabled was a need for mortar which would harden James Watt to greatly improve the steam en- under water; one which would was called hy- draulic . This property was imparted to mor- tar in either of two general ways: (1) by' Bryan Higgins (17377-1820), a Doctor of Med- virtue of some ingredient (impurity) in the icine, between 177^- and 1780 carried out a lime, or (2) by virtue of seme quality of methodical series of tests on 'divers mix- the sand (or substitute for sand). tures of lime, sand, and water,1 and an in- vestigation of 'the principles on which the Hydraul i. c 1 i me: Lime containing from 10£ to induration and strength of calcareous ce- about 30/£ of clay, when properly calcined ments depend.' His Experiments and Obser-- and otherwise prepared, mixed with sand and vat ions made with the view of Improving the water, forms a mortar which will set and Arc of Composing and Applying Calcareous- Ce- harden under water. Rock containing both ments, and of Preparing Quick-Lime: Theory lime and clay in these proportions can be of These Arts: and Specification of the Au- found in various locations, and calcined to thor's cheap and durable Cement for Build- make "natural" hydraulic lime. "Artificial" ings, Incrustation, or Stuccoing, and Arti- hydraulic lime can also be prepared. The ficial Stone (London: T. Cadell, 1780) help- French civil engineers of the nineteenth ed establish a scientific basis for improved century were enthusiastic champions of both practice in preparing and handling lime, for varieties, using them for mortar in under- use in building construction. water masonry works (breakwaters, bridge piers and abutments, canals). Other important authorities on mortar were Louis J/Vicat (1786-1861), Chief Engineer Natural cement; (also called hydraulic ce- of Roads and Bridges in France, and Quincy. ment, water lime, water-proof cement.) Adams Gillmore (1825-1888), a Brigadier Gen- There is no clear dividing line between this eral in the U. S. Army-, who directed the and hydraulic lime: natural cement rock con- construction of many fortifications. His tains a greater percentage of clay, from Practical Treatise on Limes, Hydraulic Ce-. about 25% to about 45$. It was calcined in ments,_and Mortars, first published in a kiln and later ground into a fine powder 1663, is one of the best references for the (it does not become a powder upon slaking, • serious student of the history of building as does common lime). It, too, was some- materials. times prepared "artificially." Color: The clean white appearance of lime, John Smeaton (1724-1792) perhaps deserves tinted slightly by sand, made common lime the honor of being called the first to dis- mortar attractive in the joints between cover, by 1756, that impure limestone which bricks and stones, and it was greatly fa- contained clay was a better source of lime, vored for this architectural effect. to be used for underwater mortar, than pure limestone. He correctly attributed the hy- Natural cement rocks were scon discovered in draulic properties to the presience of the im- other locations, and the manufacture of ce- purities. Smeaton1s Narrative! of the Build- ment was begun there •. ing of the Eddystone Lighthouse, 1791, de- 182V. Wiliinmsville, Erie County, N. Y. scribed these experiments, among other things. 1826: Kensington, Connecticut 1828: Rosendale, Ulster County, N. Y. James Parker took out a patent c. 1791. and 1829: Louisville, Kentucky a second one in 179&, which established the 1831: Williansport vicinit;y, Pa basic method of preparing natural cement. 1836: Cumberland, Maryland His product, called Parker's Roman C_ement, 1837: Round Ton, near Hancock, Kd. was made by calcining stones found in the Isle 1838: Utica, Illinois of Sheppy, called nodules or septaria, and 1839: Akron, Hew York pulverizing the clinkers into powder. He 18^8: Balcony Palls, Virginia recommended mixing two measures of water with 1850: Siegfried's Bridge, Lehigh Valley,Pa, five measures of cement powder;- this would 1850: Cement, Georgia set in about twenty minutes, in the air or under water. Parker's Roman Cement enjoyed Natural cement mortar was employed mainly a high reputation for several decades, but where masonry was subjected to moisture and its quick-setting property-was considered a where its greater strength was required. It disadvantage. When his patent expired it was was not a popular material for buildings ex- widely manufactured by others. cept those of the finest construction. The cement shrank in volume when water was added Edgar Boobs, of London, obtained a patent in (unlike lime, which increased) and masons 1810, for an "artificial hydraulic lime" did not like the "feel" of cement mortar as which can be better described as an artifi- well as they did lime mortar. Cement mortar cial cement; apparently he was the first to was preferred by the Federal Government for make one. Suitable proportions of calcium its fortifications and important public carbonate and clay were mixed in a wet state, works, including the extension of t'he Cap!-, dried, cut into pieces, and calcined. Pre- tol in the-1850's. The architect, Thomas sumably it was then pulverized or ground. U..Walter, wrote: 'I have to request that all the mortar In the United States, natural cement rock was used in every part of the work be mixed in discovered by Canvass White (1790-183*0 and proportions by actual measure, as follows. other engineers directing construction of the 'For all the footing-s, to the height of 2 Erie Canal, somewhere between Sullivan and yettevills, N. Y. In 1820 White obtained a patent, and c. 1825 he and his brother, Sec Harloy J. HcX.ec, "Canvas; V/'.'.ito and Natural Ce- Hugh, established a manufactory at Chitten- ment," in S.-'Ji Journal, XX, 4. (ice. 1-jGl). ngo, Y. , calling the product White's - 2 ter-Proof Cement. Hugh White later manufac- .List compiled after data in Uriah Cunr.in^s, American tured natural cement at Whiteport, in Ulster . Cements (Boston; 1898). County. feet above the bottom of the cellars, and as well as at Montenuova.... for the backing behind the granite sub- 'Trass also is a kind of volcanic tufa, it basement, cement and sand, without any being consolidated volcanic dust which has lime, in proportions of one of cement to been subjected to the action of pressure and two of sand. water. It is found in large quantities in 'For all the rest of the work, in pro- the Rhine province, Germany, the top layers portions of one of cement, three of lime being loose in structure, the lower rock-like. and eight of sand.'l Trass, like, pozzuolane, is partly soluble in hydrochloric acid and contains water of hy- All masonry on the Erie Canal built after dration. 1S19 was laid in natural cement mortar; the 'Santorin-earth is found on the Island of proportions of the mixture were one part of Santorin and is likewise a kind of volcanic sand to two parts of cement, apparently, material, like pumice-stone, but is softer although sources of evidence give varying than the two preceding -materials...." information. General practice in New York State around 18^0 was to mix two or three . Arenes is a sandy material found in France, parts of sand to one of cement, according especially in the Rhone Valley, which, like to H. S. Dexter, a civil engineer, in a re- Santorin-earth, imparts a weak hydraulic qual- port to the State Legislature. In his opin- ity to mortar. Trass and pozzuolana exert a ion, this was too much sand. more vigorous action; they were both widely exported and used for the construction of ca- New York State was for decades the largest nal locks, harbor works and bridges from the producer of natural cement. It was shipped seventeenth century on, until the development down the Hudson River to ports all along of cements. (They had, of course, been used the Atlantic coast, and to the West Indes. by the Romans in ancient times.) rozzuolana, T_ra_ss and Arenes; These substan- Smeaton used equal parts, by measure, of slak- ces were used as sand, or in place of sand, ed Aberthaw lime (which itself had weak hy- to mix with common lime and water, to make draulic quality) and Pozzuolana (imported from hydraulic mortar. As explained by Bleinin- Italy) for the mortar of the Eddystone Light- ger^ 'In the oldest type of hydraulic poz- house, in 1759. zuolane materials we have as the main con- stituent a substance containing hydrous si- licic acid which on the simple addition of slaked lime becomes a hydraulic cement.... Letter, Walter to ourr.ucl Stron;;, April 14, 1552, bound 'The principal natural pozzuolanes are 113 in the Office of tho Supervising Architect of the pozzuolane proper, trass and Santorin-earth. U. 3. Capitol, Washington. Thir; reference is through All of these when mixed with slaked lime tho courtesy of Charles ill. PC-tor:;or:. harden and form a hydraulic mortar. Albert Victor Bleinin^er, "Tho Manufacture of Hydraulic 'The pozzuolane proper is a hydrous, vol- Ceiuents," in Geological Survey of O-iiq, Fourth Series, canic, porous rock ...found in Italy, es- Bulletin No. ~3 (Coiurr.bus, Ohio: 1904J. pecially near the Vesuvius and at Bacoli, 25 was used raost notably by Dutch engi- Terminology; Mortar is placed in a wall in a ne-re? who set the standards hydraulic raa- plastic state; after a time it sets (losing sonry was expected to meet. Qn a journey to its plastic quality). After that it hardens Holland In 1775, Smeaton observed trass be- over a period of days, months, or even years. ing pulverized in a mill, and recorded a de- Cement mortars set rather quickly, lime mor- j scription of the machinery and the process tars slowly; in fact, mortar made with pure ! in his diary. He watched the preparation lime does not have s. very distinct set. of mortar on a large scale, commenting on | its quality and that of Dutch brickwork: 'A Mortar made without sand is said to be neat; i light manner of building universaly prevails this appears to be a relatively modern term. I throughout the dutch territory; which un- 1 doubtedly the badness of•their foundations, Grout is s. relatively thin liquid mortar i has put them under a necessity of doing. The which can be poured into joints or empty common thickness of house walls being no places in the wall. It may be neat, or it more than the length of a dutch Brick which may contain some sand. is about 8 inches; nor the strongest above brick & half, which is 12 Inches; their One finds some words spelled in various ways: brick & mortar is however extreamly good ...' Pozzuolana, pozzolana, pozzuolane, puzzolana. Trass was usually mixed with lime paste, using a minimum of water, and thoroughly Trass, tras, terras, tarras. "beaten.." Smeaton recommended taking two bushels of lime to one bushebushell of trass; it was a googood day'a s work for one man to make CONCRETE: up this quantity The term concrete, denoting a mixture of ce- Some trass was used in the United States, ment (or lime), sand, and gravel (or stones), notably for mortar in three locks for the appears to have entered the English'language Middlesex Canal. Forty tons were brought about 1815-1820, although the material itself from St. Eustasis, in the Dutch West Indes, is at least as old as 691 3. C., when thejiq- where there were ample deposits,2 in 1796. ueduct of Sennacherib at Jerwan was built-5 Baldwin, the engineer, experimented with with a canal bed 16" thick of lime' concrete: different mixtures and adopted this one: 1 part lime, 1^ to 2 parts sand, and ^ parts

two bushels of trass, one bushel of lime, V and three bushels of sand. In spite of this excess of sand, which helped to extend the John S:r.Gaton's_ Idary of His_ JournVy tr> tr..--_Lov.- Coun- small quantity of trass at his disposal, the tries (Lcunin^ton iiou: The iiov,-cc::.-jn Society, Ij^-i'). nortar held up well in these lock walls. 2 Christopher Roberts, Tho__Midal'jiiox Cuml (Carr.brid^e, Portland cement mortar; Toward the close of .Mass.: 1(J30). the nineteenth century this gradually came Soton Lloyd, in A History of Techr to be accepted as the best. 26 broken limestone. Lime concrete was used by concrete. Fowler3, a popular lecturer on pre-Hellenic and Hellenic Greeks, Romans, phrenology, wrote a book which helped to in- French in the middle ages, Italians, and terest people in what he called the "gravel others. In the Western Hemisphere, Mayans wall." He recommended one part of lime to of the old and new Empires constructed pour- twenty parts of sand and stones! There are ed lime concrete roofs about one foot thick a number of houses in upstate New York, built on forms of wooden beams and smaller limbs. of poured concrete around the 1850 's. One Lime concrete can disintegrate (as poor lime Richard P. Thomas built a three- story house mortar can): Horley1 described some Mayan and grocery in 1855, sit the southeast corner remains that were 'little more than small of Almond and Washington Streets, in Syracuse stones and a powdery lime.1 The Spanish and (no longer standing). Its walls, 35 feet ' other colonists made.a concrete of shell- high, were poured in movable forms, and made lime and crushed shells, called tapia, or of 1 part lime to 8 parts sand and aggregate ) tabby. (coarse gravel and stonecutter's spalls).^ Lime concrete in the United States; The ear- Natural cement concrete in the United _St ate s : Tiest examples were tabby walls and roofs The natural cement introduced by Canvass along the coast of the southeast states. White (see p. 2*4} and others around 1820, was Manucy1 has given an excellent description used in making concrete for construction un- of its use at St. Augustine. He defines der water and in other places where a con- tabby as a concrete composed of approximate- crete better than that made with lime was de- ly "equal parts (by measure) of lime, sand sired. Mostly it was employed for public en- and shell aggregate. Spanish words for this gineering works: aqueducts, fortifications, material were: tapia, option, ripio. It was bridges, city sewers and curbs. It was also poured into formed space and compacted. John popular for the construction of house cis- Bartram, in the 18th century, described what terns, and may have been used in some house . he observed in St. Augustine: 'They raised walls (possibly some I have examined in Syra- them (walls) by setting two boards on edge . as wide as they intend the wall, then poured } in lime-shell mortar mixed with sand, in 3ylv;inu3 Gri.cv:old Ilorloy, T ;•._•_ ? Ancient i :v/a, which they pounded oyster shells as close as cd. (Stanford Hniv. Prc^s, 1Q47J possible. And when that part was set, they Albert Kariucy, The Hou^s o:' 3t. ,V:L-u-ti::o (St. raised the planks, and so on until they had Au^uatine, Fla. : 1(>2J. Al::o see "Ta:;ia or Tabby" in raised the wall as high as wanted.1 Wall, oAH Journal, XI, 4 (l)ac. 1332). surfaces were rough in texture; therefore they were usually plastered or stuccoed. At Ore on Squire Fowler, A Ho:-e for /ill c/r the Gravel './all Fort Frederica on St. Simon's Island, Geor- and Chta/^n Mo.h; of Ji'.n IdiM-: v.Cow Yoiv:: Iti'-j^')- (An gia, tabby walls are 12" to 2^" thick, the , earlier edition v;a;: published in Io47.) Many of the latter being about 25 feet high. statements :;:ade by Fowler were utterly preposterous,' but there were people who followed his su^jostions. 4 Around the middle of the 19th century, houses New York Tribune^, Nov. 7, Ittj'j . were being built with walls of poured lime cuse and. the vicinity. Obadiah Parker, of for making or repairing roads, and I take it Syracuse, N. Y., v:as one of the promoters to from the roads after it is reduced to a pud- exploit natural cement. Ho took out a pat- dle or powder; but if I cannot procure a suf- ent Sept. 15, 183^, for an improvement in ficient quantity of the above from the roads, the construction of water cisterns. During I obtain the limestone itself, and I cause that year and the next Parker built a number the puddle or powder, or the limestone, as of cisterns in Syracuse, Catskill and New the case may be to be calcined. I then take York City, using natural hydraulic cement a specific quantity of argillaceous earth or c or.crete about 3 inches thick. He also erec- clay, and mi:-: them with water to a state ap- ted a snail poured-concrete office building proaching impalpability, either by manual for his company at 107 Amos Street, New York labor or machinery. After this proceeding City.1 I put the above mixture into a slip pan for evaporation, either by the heat of the sun, Concrete made with pozzuolana, trass, etc.: or by submitting it to the action of fire or This is the famous Roman concrete, of which steam conveyed in flues or pipes under or Blake~ has written at length. One part of near the pan till the water is entirely evap- lime was mixed with from two to four parts orated. Then I break the said mixture into of pozzuolana (which the Romans considered suitable lumps, and calcine them in a furnace s. kind of sand) and water, poured into forms, similar to a lime kiln till the carbonic acid and then stone aggregate was dumped in. This is entirely expelled. The mixture so cal- was done in stages, so the stones were well cined is to be ground, beat or rolled to a distributed. Roman concrete walls were usual- fine powder. •** ly faced with a finish material: stucco, brick, limestone or marble. They were con- In Aspdin1s specification, there is no pre- structed under water as well as above ground. cise indication of the temperature at which . the second calcination took place. It may Viollet-le~Duc stated that this method of not have been so high as that which became wall construction survived fairly well in usual around 1850, when the advantages of. France until the twelfth century, although Portland cement were widely appreciated in-. much of this concrete was of inferior qual- England, nor so high as the present stand- ity. 3 in the 18th and 19th centuries both ard (around 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit). trass and pozzuolana were employed in under- water foundations by European engineers. Portland cement concrete; Joseph Aspdin (1779- in Anorich.n Notes, J.-UI Joi;r:ril, XI, 2 (ll'-iy 10i;2). 2 1855) was an English mason-builder, interest- Marion. Elizabeth Blake, An don:: :io:.vir:__Cc;r:;:truc_tion in ed in producing artificial stone. In 1824 he Italy (Washington, J. C.: I'j-V/'j . took out a patent for a product which he cal- led "Portland Cement" (from a resemblance in Viollst-1;.—Due Uiotlonrjairo (?,-:ri:i: 1B>1.). Bit on. 4 color to Portland stone). This is how Aspdin 3riti:;h Patent i'o. ^02.'!, cr.;o'vt.i I..-I Nor/v-.i U^vey, A Hls- described his method: 'I take a specific quan- -'' tor;/ of Buildin/: Katerials (London: 1961). tity of limestones such as that generally used 28 The manufacture of Portland cement in the in the I860!s and I8?0's in Chicago: United. States did not begin until i8?l, and A. Frear's "artificial stone. "'^ Dwyer ci« little was imported until 1868.^ I sug- scribed some artificial stones of the 1850Js; gest extreme caution in accepting reports "Foster'-s Artificial Granite," "Kedley's of its use in the United States before that Harblei^ed Granite" and "Woods Artificial date. The word "Portland" may have slipped Stone. "^ The last was made of sand (50;Z), into notes and paraphrases by inadvertence. gypsum (25%) and blood (25/0: 'first, the • p sand and'gypsum are mixed together in their According to Condit - the Joseph Goodrich anhydrous (dry) state ...The blood is then house in Milton, Wisconsin, was built in added, and the whole mass mixed till it be- 1844 with poured monolithic walls, using comes a thick paste, when it is either put Portland cement imported from England, with into moulds or worked with the hand, until sand, water, broken stone and gravel. So- the desired shape is obtained. The compo- called "grout" houses appear to have been sition gradually hardens, and becomes in built in Wisconsin several years before time, a stone of a beautiful pink color. that date, using lime and sand.3 By coating the mass over whan moulded with fine sand or pulverised marble, any desired The architectural uses of Portland cement color may be gi-ven, and it may be made to concrete, or concrete made with natural ce- represent granite, or the different kinds ment, appear to have been very few in the of marble.' United States until late in the nineteen- th century. PLASTER AND STUCCO: Artificial stone; Both in Europe and in the United States, blocks or units of lime con- . The word pargetting (pergetting, pergening, crete, pozzuolana concrete, and natural ce- parging, parge-work) was in use at least as ment concrete have been manufactured, and early as 1^50* to denote a covering of plas- laid up into walls as stones were. This was tic material for walls and ceilings. While done both for structural and for ornamental plain work vras included in the term it was purposes, usually to build more cheaply than with natural stone. Condit has described 1 Robert \l. Lesley, iii_^'_qry_ Q-' th-_: P^rU^d a house built for G. A. Ward in New Brighton, ciustry in tho Unite-;.; Jt.TJor; (C:.ic:i.;jc: 1324;. on Staten Island, N. Y., in 1837, of precast 2 blocks laid up in mortar. Two houses still Carl W. Condit, Ar:^ric/in _liuil'.ii'v Art—Tho "incitoor.th standing in Syracuse, N. Y. (211 Catherine C'iritur;/ (Now York: 1000;. Street; 1622 South Salina Street), thought Netf York Tribune, '-.arch 21, l'^.:yj. 'fro::. ::ixtoer. to to have been built in the 1850's, have walls twenty years' (ago). of precast blocks. They are covered on the exterior with stucco. Perhaps there are 4 See "Prear Artificial Stcr.e, Patented Icici," in A.'_eri- others waiting to be discovered, in the area. can ilotes, SAH Journal, XIII, 1 \,March Ir3"^4). K Charles P. Dwyer, TJJ.O Kconoinic Jot^a^o Builder (3uf- Condit tells of precast block construction 'falo, W. Y.: 29 more generally applied to ornamental work. side. 6. The said Daniel Andrews is to find Plaster (plaister) is also an old word for lime, bricks, clay, stone, haire, together such "daubed on" coverings, ajpplied to both with laborers and workmen...1 Clay was thus interior and exterior work. Since the mid- used as a finish plaster and as an ingredient 18 th century the term stucco has been pre- in the rough coat. In other cases it wag ferred for reference to exterior work; the probably used by itself as a first coat.^1 term rough-cast has also.'been used, from as early as the loth centurV. Many writers In New Mexico (and the Southwest generally) still use the word plaster in an all-inclu- clay was used to plaster adobe walls: Bunting sive sense, although for*~technical purposes and Conron4" describe the process. 'The walls is is advisable to be more precise (as: lime are plastered with the same earth that was plaster, gypsum plaster, cement stucco). used for the bricks. Yet nature provides an astonishing variety of soft colors that make Clay plaster; Clay or mud plaster was in use for extremely beautiful interior "plaster." at least as early as 3500 B. C. in Mesopota- Not every soil, however, is appropriate for mia; it was probably employed in buildings plastering. Usually each community has a much earlier than that, in various places. clay pit where a usable mud can be obtained Settlers in the American Colonies used it at for plaster, a fact which accounts for the an early date. According to Kimball^ 'In- uniform color of the local houses. The earth terior plastering in the form of clay ante- selected is carefully screened and applied dated even the building of houses of frame, with bare hands. When the plastered area has and must have been visible in the inside of dried, it is smoothed over once more with a wattle filling in those earliest frame hous- piece of dampened sheepskin. .. .A dado of es in which ...wainscot had not been indulg- darker colored adobe plaster was often used ed. Clay continued in use long after the around the lower part of the wall . . .When a adoption of laths and brick filling for the lighter interior was desired, a coat of cal- frame. Records of the New Haven colony in cimine was brushed on over the mud plaster. ' 16^1 mention clay and hay as well as lime Different colors of clay were used to make and hair....In the German houses of Pennsyl- decorative wall-paintings in the churches of vania the use of clay persisted much later still....' A contract of c. lo?5 from Salem, Sidney Fisko Kir.ball, Dcno:: tic ^rchitocturo of tho Mass., specifies its use:" 'he is to lath and AiP.orican Colonies and of the £urly Roouol:c (.lew siele the 4- rooms of the house betwixt the York: 1922). 2 joists overhead with a coat of lime and haire Frank Cousins and Phil M. Riley, T;.o 'Joloni'il Arer.i- upon the clay; also to fill the gable ends of tccturG of o.'i.l(:i.i (Boston: 1913;. the house with bricks and to plaister them with clay. 5. To lath and plaister parti- la ham and Brown, S :.~. r ly C grin-; c t_l__c u ~ \: ua es (provider. e, tions of the house with clay and lime, and to "' fill, lath and plaister them with line and Bainbrid/jG Bunting and John ?. (Jonron, "Tno .-.rchitc-c- hair besides; and to siele and lath them over- ture of Northern iiew Mexico," in Ife1.-: Mexico Architac- head with lime; also to fill lath and plais- turo. VIII, 9-10 (SL-pt.-Oct. 19667^ Also see XII, ter the kitchen up to the wall plate on every 30 9-10 (Sept.-Oct. 1970). New Mexico, according to Bunting; it was a In the 19th century, the standard mixture rather common practice In the early days but was one part lime paste to two parts sand. few have survived. The largejst of its kind Quicklime was slaked and allowed, to stand remaining in that State is at' las Trampas, for some time; hair was added to the lime in the church of San Jose de Gracia (behind paste and then the sand was mixed in. The a later retable). The colors are red, black, percentage of sand in the first coat was white, ochre, and lavander; flakes of mica usually higher than 2:1. If the lime had are attached to the mud plaster, to reflect not been thoroughly slaked, pieces of plas- light and enliven the effect. ter would "pop" off of the wall later. In high-grade work, Plaster of Paris was mixed Lime plaster: Lime, mixed with sand or hair in with the finish coat. This was called (or both)has been used for plastering from gauging. Two coats were generally applied ancient times, either directly on masonry, to brick or stone walls, and three to wood or on lath. In the United States, it (and lath (the first two often being put on in clay) was used almost exclusively until well a continuous operation, the finish coat af- into the I9th century. Kelly1 found lime plas- ter they had dried). ter well established in New Haven by 16^4-1, and shortly before 1700 in Hartford, Wethers- Gypsum; This was commonly used in regions field and Windsor. 'Examination of many ex- where deposits were found, both as a stone amples of early plastering reveals the fact (indoors) or, calcined at a low temperature that it Is generally "one-coat work," and (265° to 3^06 Fahrenheit) and ground to that, although rough in texture and finish, make plaster. This is often called Plaster it is of great hardness and evident durabil- of Paris, from the fact that extensive gyp- ity. Shell lime seems often to have enter- sum deposits esisted near Paris, France, ed into its make-up, especially in towns a- and were utilized there in the Kiddle Ages. long the Sound, as well as a generous amount 'When mixed with water, gypsum plaster sets of red cattle hair....Such specimens of ear- .very quickly; size or glue is sometimes ad- ly plaster work are always very rich in ded to retard the setting. Gypsum plaster line; and where the source of it was oyster is used in small amounts to retard the set- shells, it is common to find good-sized ting of Portland cement and natural cement fragments of them, imperfectly calcined, in mortar and concrete. the plaster.' In 1856, Downing stated that 'The majority of cheap cottages have the walls of all the rooms finished with two or J. Frederick Kelly, Vh'j.Jv.-.rly V..: .u:;tic Arr.-hitocture three coats of lime and sand, and afterwards of ..Connecticut (Kew Haven, Conn. : I'j24j. whitewashed.' 2 . A. J. itowning, The r.rch;i ts_pturf.- of Country Houses (reprinted, N

\W^,wi'O^4' . n— n; J"j *J? \ )• -'* « .JiJU^^--—"-"000 I'-"— ! -O-i-"%-»•,b f'U._l T— . »i•-,- . ~-» *-'.-&V4 iw T>v_/—- 1. •'^.—f• •-V ,i t^r.; M „. Scuccc: Exterior walls have been covered plaster floors, with the plaster carried up the face with stucco since ancient times, notably in of the walls ...' Mediterranean lands. During the early 19th century stuccoed walls were very popular in 2 Carl :/. 31e;;en, "The Palace of Xin^ Jester," in England and in some American localities ""' Archaeolory, V, 3 (Auturorr 1952;. : where ties with England were strong, such James and Hazel ',/inny, "Jesirns of an elusive father as in Charleston, S. C. Here, a coating of and con, the Win^s of Jorth Luffenharn," in Country lime-sand stucco only 1/8" to 1A" in thick- Life, C/.LIII, 3718 (June u, 2/jt,--). ness was applied to brick walls, columns and moulded trim, which had been built with • • r Albert C. Manucy, "Tapia or Ta:;by," in .-j^rican ;.rot•=.">, great precision (including fluting on taper- SAH Journal, Xl", 4 (lioc. 1952;. ed columns). Often wall surfaces were scored A. J. Downing, The Architecture of Country Houses .- or marked off with simulated "stone joints." (reprinted, New York: lyu'jTi 32 demonstrated by at least ten years of test- that both ends were rectangular, ing on out ide walls. He cited country houses in Pennsylvania on which common lime stucco had been applied to stone walls 'eighty or one hundred years ago, the stucco of v.Thich is now as firm and sound as the stone itself.' He recommended applying the finish coat as soon as the first was sufficiently firm to receive it, but before the first had dried. Ornamental plasterwork: This subject is be- yond the scope of the present essay. There Downing described rough-cast as 'a rude spe- were several techniques, that of casting cies of cement, very durable and very cheap... units probably being the most common. For lay on a coat of good lime and hair mortar. running ornament short lengths were made. Allow this to dry, and then lay on another Plaster of Paris was widely used for cast- coat as evenly and smoothly as possible with- ing, and as an adhesive for mounting the out floating. As soon as two or three yards cast units in place and patching or filling of the second coat is finished, have ready .a .the joints. Vasari briefly described loth- pail of rough- cast , and splash or throw it century Italian 'ornamental work with lime on the wall. This is usually done by another stucco, in which the workman moulded relief workman, who holds the trowel with which he figures with his hands and brushes while throws on the rough-cast in one hand, and a the material was plastic.1 white-wash brush dipped constantly in the pail in the other, which follows the trowel Enrichments were also made of "putty compo- until the whole is smooth, and evenly color- sition" (whiting, linseed oil, resin, gum) ed. and mounted on a background. 'The rough-cast itself is made of sharp sand, washed clean, screened and mixed in a Peter Nicholson^ has given a reasonably de- large tub with pure, newly- slaked lime and tailed description of ornamental plastering water, till the whole is in a semi-fluid practices of the early 19th century. q+- o t- o ' O W «^» W ^r • Th_e_ •plasterer; Plastering was a skilled specialized trade. A spade and a rake Giorgio Vasari, Var.-iri on Tochni.-;.:e, trans, oy Louisa (with two or three prongs) were used to mix S. Kaclehose, od. by G. Baldwin iiro'.v.a (K'-JW York: jovo: plaster and hair together. Two kinds of I960). 2 „ trowels were used in applying and smoothing Encyclorx::!ia of Architc-cturc, a i.'-'-w .••.rr: I:-.:)rcvoH. L/iition the plaster. One was a thin piece of harden- of .Nicholson's j;ic".:.:;::ary of the Science ar:u Practice of ed iron, about ten inches long and 2-j inches Architecture, ikiiluir.g etc. Edited by I'avar.: Lc:-ax, Esq., wide, rounded at one end, with a wooden han- C. K., and Thomas Gur.yon, Esq., Arc. dc C. •£. rVolishod. dle attached. The other, which was made in by Johnson, Fry 6; Co., 27 3ook;aan 3t., :,V.v York. several sizes, was similar in shape except 33 EARLY AMERICAN MASONRY •imi••v.**: v-.«?* MATERIALS £#-|s Supplement, p. 1 S;;| HJM ££.|!*v-^i !•.:•.•••.§:••: *•••••'•: &; il1^i1

Bridge on the m Old National m Road, Blaine, r".V-V^ Ohio; 1828. § »| Sandstone string course: ! !^f"p;i;eS-| is^i

FULL SIZE.

•:.•-•-.• x':.••.T,.:-.'V.V.*..-':':.- :\;*'::\: ..•xv>.-..>v-i-.-.-:-x>;.-..-.-.-:/>;

A chisel (see p. 9, illus. 9) was held at an angle Friends Meeting House, Mount Pleasant, to the face of the stone, and driven with taps of Ohio; 181^. Sandstone window sill: a mallet or hammer (depending on the hardness of FULL SIZE. the stone) to cut continuous paralell grooves. When freshly dressed a section of the surface prob- The stone was brought to a rough sur- ably resembled "A"; after weathering 1^3 years it face with a point (see p. 9, illus. resembles "B." 7, 8). It was then finished with a wide chisel (see p. 9, illus. 12, 13) Similar chisel work, which was common in the early which removed the ridges "D" but left nineteenth century, may be seen at Mount Prospect the bottom of the grooves "C" intact. Hall ("Adena"), Chillicothe Vicinity, Ohio (1806; Benj. H. Latrobe, architect) and at Hyde Hall, Cooperstown Vicinity, New York (c. 1829; Philip Hooker, architect). AMERICAN MASONRY MATERIALS Hall of Languages, Syracuse University; Supplement, p. 2 18?1. H. N. White, HJM architect. Onondaga limestone, bush ham- mered window jamb: FULL SIZE. 1

t *\ .* »ii\\ i »\»"»^ iT% % i .*.« "\i •,'•*'''*•'*'» '^ '.'•'•*•*• • •'• • '•'• '•*• v-v> Telephone Building, Syra- cuse, N. Y.; 1905. Lime- Richardson House, McConnelsville, Ohio; IQJ8 or earlier.] stone finished in a plan- Bush-hammered sandstone ashlar: FULL SIZE. ing machine: FULL SIZE. The main surface was dressed with a coarse bush hammer (see p. 9t illus. 16). The margins appear to have been cut with a narrow chisel held at an angle to the face of the stone. Margins could be "drafted" in various other ways: a) with a tooth chisel (see p. 9, illus. 10, 11), sometimes followed by a wide chisel to take off the ridges; b) hammering with a pean ax (see p. 9t illus. 3); c) with a wide chisel held perpendicular to the face of the stone. Note; A bush hammer might be held so that all marks would be regular, or that they would be random. One frequently notices a pattern of (more or less) concentric arcs, whose center was the workman's shoulder. X" AMERICAN ..-'"MASONRY X MATERIALS Supplement, p. 3 HJM

Bridge on the mmmf/.' -mmmmm Old National Road, Elaine, Ohio; 1828. Sandstone, pick-dressed.

FULL SIZE The pick p. 9, illus 2) was probably used with the face of the stone in a near- vertical plane, upside down or standing on the right end. The pick was applied diagonally; in /the drawing this direction ap- pears as upward and to the right.

(also called picked, scab- bled, nigged. scappled. nid- ged. ) ,/ AMERICAN MASONRY MATERIALS Supplement, p. 4. HJM -f ^WF-' *yMw'l'i -^/Mllul>'.'•: *%!<)!,Ii',:';'.-: •':':

St. James' Episcopal Church, Arlington, Vermont; 1831. Marble, broacjaed finish: FULL SIZE. This is done with a point (see p. 9, illus. 7, 8). Sometimes the grooves are cut horizontally, as on a belt course.

THE PATENT HAMMER (A. Schematic drawing, not to scale) was introduced c. 1830 and was widely used in the latter part of the nineteenth century for finishing hard stones. (Sometimes called "Bush Hammer" in the east.) 3. Alexander Brown House, Syracuse, N. Y.; 1895. Sandstone, 8-cut finish (8 blades to an inch): FULL SIZE.

C. John Grouse Mausoleum, Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse, N. Y. ; 1884-. Granite, 12-cut finish: FULL SIZE. This is very fine work. A